In an internal combustion engine of a piston and cylinder type, it is necessary to charge the cylinder with a fuel and air mixture for the combustion cycle and to vent or evacuate the exhaust gases at the exhaust cycle of each cylinder of the engine. In the conventional piston and cylinder type engine, these events occur thousands of times per minute per cylinder. In the conventional internal combustion engine, the rotation of a camshaft causes a spring-loaded valve to open to enable the fuel and air mixture to flow from the carburetor to the cylinder and the combustion chamber during the induction stroke. This camshaft closes this intake valve during the compression and combustion stroke of the cylinder and the same camshaft opens another spring-loaded valve, the exhaust valve, in order to evacuate the cylinder after compression and combustion have occurred. These exhaust gases exit the cylinder and enter the exhaust manifold.
The hardware associated with the efficient operation of conventional internal combustion engines having spring-loaded valves includes items such as springs, cotters, guides, rockers shafts and the valves themselves which are usually positioned in the cylinder heads such that they normally operate in a substantially vertical position, with their opening, descending into the cylinder for the introduction or venting or evacuation of gases.
As the revolutions of the engine increase, the valves open and close more frequently and the timing and tolerances become critical in order to prevent the inadvertent contact of the piston with an open valve which can cause serious engine damage. With respect to the aforementioned hardware and operation, it is normal practice for each cylinder to have one exhaust valve and one intake valve with the associated hardware mentioned heretofore; however, many internal combustion engines have now progressed to multiple valve systems, each having the associated hardware and multiple camshafts.
In the standard internal combustion engine, the camshaft is rotated by the crankshaft by means of a timing belt or chain. The operation of this camshaft and the associated valves operated by the camshaft presents the opportunity to decrease the engine efficiency to the friction associated with the operation of the various elements. Applicant's invention is directed towards a novel valve means which eliminates the need for spring-loaded valves and the associated hardware and in its simplest explanation, enlarges the camshaft to provide for spherical rotary valves to feed each cylinder. This decreases the number of moving parts and hence the friction involved in the operation of the engine and increases engine efficiency. It also eliminates the possibility of the piston contacting an open valve and thus causing serious engine damage.
Applicant's invention is applicable to utilization of a single shaft containing a spherical rotary intake valve and a spherical rotary exhaust valve per cylinder. Applicant's pending applications, Ser. Nos. 270,027 and 409,037 are directed to a design in which the valve mechanism operates at one-half the crankshaft speed. Applicant's present disclosure is applicable to a multiple shaft arrangement wherein the spherical rotary intake valves are mounted on a first shaft and the spherical rotary exhaust valves are mounted on a second shaft, the shafts being in substantial parallel alignment and geared between the crankshaft and each valve shaft to provide for normal half speed rotation with the crankshaft or quarter speed rotation with the crankshaft or one-eighth speed rotation with the crankshaft depending upon the porting of the rotary spherical valves. The lubrication of this system is accomplished by a drip feed to the spherical rotary valve bearings through the support shaft.